The eleventh leg of the Roman Way leaves Umbria and enters Lazio via a lovely bit arduous route which, once out of Piediluco, touches on Labro, Morro Reatino, Poggio Bustone and Cantalice before getting to Rieti
Water sources
yes (Piediluco, Labro, Morro Reatino, Poggio Bustone, Cantalice, Rieti)
This leg takes you out of Umbria and into Lazio, leaving from Piediluco and arriving in Rieti, in the Holy Valley, another Franciscan place steeped in meaning.The route goes through the truly gorgeous nature of the Apennine mountains around Rieti, but this beauty is also what makes the going hard all along the route, with a total of the four climbs adding up to some 900 metres.Once you leave Piediluco Lake you have a few kilometres of basically flat road over which to warm up your legs before the first climb, which is also the longest of the four, and once past Labro you will come across the charming little town of Morro Reatino.From here head to Poggio Bustone where, if you are tired or the many climbs prove to be more than you can comfortably handle, you could consider stopping there for the day and take off again the following morning.At the end of the nice downhill stretch from Poggio Bustone you will get a hard climb that takes you to Cantalice, another lovely town perched in the Reatine mountains, at an altitude of 660 metres above sea level. From here you go down to Vazia and face the last ascent of the day to finally reach Castelfranco.Once conquered, the day’s difficulties are done with and you can enjoy a nice descent to Rieti, but do beware of the sometimes heavy traffic, especially as you near the city.
